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Aziz Ansari first showed up at the Just for Laughs festival in 2009 as a mostly unknown stand-up entity. Aside from aficionados who had caught his act on MTV’s Human Giant, most here knew him only as one of the host of wise-ass sidekicks on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation.

Then Ansari proceeded to blow audiences away at his one-man show at Théâtre Ste. Catherine that year with some of the most refreshing and absurdly hysterical riffs on everything from getting shortchanged on sheet thread counts to Facebook brawls with his cousin. He had crowds convulsing with his comeback to those who kept asking him whether he was pumped by the impact of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire – which was set in India. Yeah, he responded, just like every white person who is pumped by Jaws, The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Sunset Boulevard – pretty much every film ever made, except for Boyz N The Hood and Slumdog Millionaire.

Ansari, who hails from that not-so-comedic hotbed of Columbia, S.C., is the son of first-generation immigrants from India. As such, some expected his stand-up would largely reflect his background and consist of his doing tired impressions of his Indian forefathers. That’s not Ansari. His act has nothing to do with the immigrant experience and resulting culture shock. He sees life through his own unique and twisted lens. All of which just may explain why this ever-unpredictable wit is now considered by many to be among the top five comics on the continent.

In fact, People magazine named him 2011’s “Funniest Dude in Prime Time.” And Rolling Stone, which had him on the cover of their special comedy issue, hailed him as “the funniest man under 30.” And there’s a good chance that when he turns 30 next February, the mag will name him “the funniest comic under 40.”

Ansari returns to Just for Laughs for the fourth year running with a new solo show, Buried Alive, which he’ll present July 25 to 27. Pretty much everyone is aware of him now. And he no longer plays 100-seaters like Théâtre Ste. Catherine. Now he’s doing the Metropolis, which has a seating capacity of 2,300, and precious few places remain for his shows.

But if you think the setting for Parks and Recreation is small-town America, Ansari claims it’s a bustling metropolis compared to the burgh in which he grew up. “It’s an even smaller town,” Ansari says in a phone interview. “It has just 8,000 people. There’s nothing there. I don’t even think there’s a park.”

As for recreation, don’t ask. And as for inspiration, it didn’t come from there.

“I just write about stuff for which I have a strong opinion and passionate viewpoint. I just don’t know where those viewpoints come from. This new show (Buried Alive) is totally different from all the other hours of material I have done. After I do an hour of material and put it on a special, I don’t repeat any of the material anymore.

“I make a deliberate effort not to make this sort of impression with people: ‘Oh, that’s the guy that talks about his cousin.’ Nope, I’m not going to talk about him ever again. If you’re a musician, you don’t want to be tagged as the guy who does that one song. I want to do stuff that’s totally different all the time.”

Buried Alive addresses the cathartic issue of Ansari about to turn 30. “People of that age are starting to get married and have kids, but what if that is something you’re not ready for? That was a really scary thought for me, and that was the starting point for the show.”

Aside from Louis C.K. and Ansari, there are very few comics out there who can come up with a new hour’s worth of material every year. He lists as inspirations Louis C.K. along with the late George Carlin and Chris Rock – the latter two, Ansari says, also renowned for their ability to come up with fresh material yearly.

“It’s insane how Louis is able to do this every year. I’ve been doing it the last few years, and I’m really excited about touring this new show. But I don’t know if I’ll do another tour next year or the year after.

“I definitely don’t take it for granted that I’ve been able to fill theatres on tour. I feel very lucky. That’s all a comedian can really ask for,” says Ansari, a regular on the late-night shows of Conan, Kimmel and Letterman.

Ansari has also been doing film work. Though last year’s action comedy 30 Minutes or Less with Jesse Eisenberg garnered mediocre reviews, Ansari was singled out for his ability to steal just about every one of his scenes. Next year, he will be seen in End of the World, along with a stellar cast of Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and James Franco. Ansari is also developing three films for Judd Apatow, with whom he first connected on the flick Funny People.

“I try to work on developing films and TV shows. There are all these things I think are super funny. But who knows when they’ll ever actually make it to the screen. Whereas in stand-up, I can work on jokes and try them the next week in a theatre to see if they work. That’s what I really enjoy.”

Following the example of Louis C.K, Ansari recently released his second DVD, Dangerously Delicious, online at AzizAnsari.com for $5. And as was the case with Louis C.K., Ansari, who divides his time between L.A. and New York, is gratified that his fans have responded as well as they have. “I think that’s a pretty fair price. They’ve done surveys with people who’ve downloaded TV shows illegally, and most say that if there were an easy way to do it, they would pay. And they have.”

Ansari is intrigued with the idea of selling his shows independently online – and avoiding the middleman – as Louis C.K. has also done. “It’s something I’ll be looking into. I like the idea of doing something that gives the artist more power and that benefits the consumer.”

He appreciates being singled out as the funniest dude in the room or under 30 and the like. He is not obsessed with accolades and awards, rather much more so with trying to live up to expectations. His expectations, that is.

“The pressure for me is whenever I go on stage. I work tremendously hard to make sure the material I do is so strong, that I will kill with it. My goal is to do the funniest theatre show any comedian has ever done. The pressure for me is all the pressure I put on myself, to be totally entertaining to a crowd of 3,000 for over an hour.”

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